yournovel Chapter 1430 Hey, another chapter of the cars I sold is here!
Chapter 1430 Hey, another chapter of the cars I sold is here!
After winter set in, more people got married, and Li Long attended several wedding banquets before December.
Although he lives in the county, his household registration is in the village, and he also has a large courtyard in the team. So when someone in the team gets married, they will send him an invitation, which is usually delivered to his elder brother Li Jian's house.
At this time, weddings in rural areas were mainly held in the courtyard of one's own home.
Although it's winter, the villagers in the fourth team have become wealthier, and they have found a way to do so.
In the yard, build a frame with iron pipes, then stretch out a few hundred yuan's worth of plastic sheeting, covering it from top to bottom and side to side, leaving only a doorway, and seal the rest of the space completely. Inside, set up three or four stoves, extend the stove pipes to the outside, and turn on a big fire, and you're good to go.
Although the banquet wasn't as warm as being indoors, it wasn't cold either.
I don't know who used this set of equipment first, but after that, it became a hot commodity. When other families got married, they would borrow this set of equipment, set it up in advance, and use it.
Actually, Li Long had some doubts about joining the team's bench at the beginning.
After all, eating out in the dead of winter, some dishes get cold before they even hit the table, and you end up eating iced food halfway through the meal. What's that supposed to be like?
But after attending once, I found it wasn't as bad as I had imagined, and eating in a plastic greenhouse actually had a unique charm.
Overall, in 1994, most villagers in Team 4 were quite satisfied with the situation that year.
Most of the projects for the large-scale transformation of 10,000 mu of farmland have been completed, and most villagers have also tried the drip irrigation farming process, so they have a good understanding of how to farm.
In total, this project saved each company tens of thousands of yuan, which is quite impressive.
Next year will definitely be a bumper year, no matter what, so every household is smiling when they go out at this time.
As a result, the villagers became much more polite to the Li family. After all, team leader Xu Chengjun had said more than once that Li Long was the one who facilitated this project. Without Li Long, let alone this project, many people had never even heard of it.
Actually, everyone knew long ago that Li Long was a well-informed person; otherwise, he wouldn't have been able to make so much money, especially from foreigners. It's just that after this project's success, people's understanding of him has deepened even further.
Some people even said that Li Juan's assignment to work in the autonomous region's government was due to Li Long's abilities. When Li Long heard this rumor, he thought it was a bit far-fetched. He felt that if this kind of boasting continued, the news circulating in the team would be that they would have the final say in the county.
Therefore, apart from these necessary occasions, Li Long rarely appeared in public at the Fourth Team. He would only communicate with his elder brother, relatives of the Li family, or people from the cooperative. He would spend the rest of his time at the purchasing station.
After all, public opinion can be a powerful force.
Several snowfalls occurred in November, and by early December, the entire northern Xinjiang region was covered in a pristine white blanket of snow.
The snow in the fields was thirty or forty centimeters thick, reaching up to the knees when stepped on, making it quite strenuous to walk through.
Tao Daqiang called Li Long and asked him to go rabbit hunting in the wild, saying that there were many rabbits in the wild after the snow at the beginning of the month.
Li Long refused. Eating rabbit occasionally is fine, but for someone like him who prefers fish, too much rabbit would be a hassle.
Although he didn't go, Tao Daqiang and his men didn't forget Li Long about the rabbits and pheasants they had chased. The next day, they drove to the county and delivered three rabbits and four pheasants to him.
Although animal protection laws exist, these concepts are still quite weak in rural areas. People might be hesitant to hunt larger animals like gazelles, but wild rabbits and pheasants are generally ignored.
After all, these creatures reproduce so quickly. Rabbits can lay several broods a year, and pheasants can hatch many eggs in one brood, which is something humans can't compare to.
On December 4th, Li Long was at the purchasing station watching Liang Shuangcheng and the others sort through the hides. Recently, Liu Gaolou had brought over two more truckloads of hides, but this time there were fewer antelope horns, only half a truckload.
According to Liu Gaolou, the competition is fierce, and it's hard to find herds of saiga antelope. The hunters they control mainly target the pelts, since pelts are much more expensive than horns.
Li Long simply told Liu Gaolou that he would double or triple the price he was willing to pay for antelope horns, and that he would try to buy as many as possible.
After all, a pair of antelope horns weighs about one kilogram, which is equivalent to two or three hides when discounted.
Liu Gaolou naturally agreed, telling Li Long to rest assured that he would definitely bring more actors next time.
When Liu Gaolou came this time, he brought about a similar number of cars as last time. Among the ten cars was a new luxury Volga, which had already been reserved. So, after arriving, Li Long notified the owner, and it was driven away the next day.
Even new cars from Li Long's shop are priced lower than the market price, since they're imported as used cars, which significantly reduces their cost.
Although fuel prices are low in Kazakhstan and the cost of driving is also low, years of inflation have led to fewer and fewer people being able to afford to drive.
More people are willing to exchange their cars for cash to buy daily necessities. In fact, due to the devaluation of money, some people would rather exchange their cars directly for daily necessities.
Liu Gaolou also told Li Long that his second uncle had built a large parking lot in the suburbs of Almaty, where many used cars were parked. Each time they were sent over, they were the better-quality ones from the inventory.
Because among the people they contacted, only Li Long could provide a large quantity of sugar and canned goods, and the supply was stable, the price that Liu Shanmin and Liu Gaolou paid for the car to Li Long was actually quite low.
Both sides are aware of this. However, after Liu Shanmin's incident this year, Li Long unilaterally raised the price of the cars. Originally, it was roughly equivalent to trading a truckload of sugar or a truckload of canned goods for a car, which was the average price.
Now Li Long will raise the price by half, and the two parties no longer need to exchange money. So Li Long will load a little more cargo each time he loads it, since the checks on overloading are relatively lenient at this time.
These trucks can carry more, whether they're loaded with canned goods or sugar.
This very friendly price-raising behavior by both parties has laid a more solid foundation for their transaction.
Every time Liu Gaolou finished delivering goods and stayed at the county guesthouse, he would receive a number of shop owners who came to see him. These people were envious of Li Long's way of making money and naturally wanted to poach his customers.
However, most of the time, Liu Gaolou would tell Li Long about the conditions that some people had promised as a joke the next day.
Li Long then genuinely laughed.
Those people truly don't understand the foundation upon which they do business with the Liu family.
Liu Gaolou could only be considered a deliveryman at best; the real decision-maker was Liu Shanmin.
He and Liu Shanmin had long since intertwined their interests, and of course, there were other more complex issues as well.
That chance encounter in the mountains, the acquisition of equipment, and the connections with Chen Dajun—all these messy relationships combined mean that probably no one else can shake up his foundation in this area.
Even if there were someone with similar circumstances to him who could provide large quantities of canned goods, sugar, and other necessities at a better price, Liu Shanmin would still not cooperate with them.
Of course, Li Long couldn't just turn a blind eye and keep the price down because of this relationship; that's not a sustainable business strategy.
Just like how Liu Shanmin would occasionally send Li Long Kazakhstani or Central Asian specialties for free, Li Long would adjust the price accordingly to ensure the other party didn't lose out.
The leather brushing can only be done indoors now because there are a lot of leathers to work with, and the enclosed space, plus the oven baking, makes the smell quite strong. Li Long only stayed for a short while before quickly leaving and going to the reception room.
He's almost finished reading Romance of the Three Kingdoms. To be honest, he probably won't be able to finish it after just one reading. He plans to flip through it again and read it several more times.
Although Romance of the Three Kingdoms was considered a popular, fast-paced novel during the Ming Dynasty, it leaned more towards traditional literature compared to martial arts novels of the 1990s, and martial arts novels replaced the "fast-paced" novels.
Therefore, only by reading more can one understand the characters, settings, and personal messages the author describes.
Just then, Sun Jiaqiang, who was fully assisting his father Li Qingxia, shouted, "Boss, someone is looking for you."
Li Long took out a self-made bookmark card, clipped it into the book, and stood up after putting the book away.
Before he even stepped out of the reception room, Sun Jiaqiang had already led his men over.
The newcomer was a short man, about 1.65 meters tall. His eyes darted around, taking in his surroundings. Upon seeing Li Long, he immediately extended his hands, bowed slightly, and said with a broad smile:
"Hello Mr. Li, congratulations on your fortune!"
This person has big eyes, a small nose, and somewhat messy eyebrows; their appearance is quite distinctive. However, their eyes seem to avoid eye contact, their gaze always shifting.
"Hello, hello, congratulations on your fortune, what's your name?" Li Long asked with a smile as he ushered the man into the reception room.
"My surname is Deng, you can just call me Xiao Deng." The man sat down, took the water that Sun Jiaqiang handed him, and said with a smile, "I do some small business."
Seeing that the man remained silent, Sun Jiaqiang knew it was inappropriate for him to be there, so he left. The short man surnamed Deng took a sip of water, and only after Sun Jiaqiang's footsteps had faded away did he speak to Li Long:
"Mr. Li, I've noticed you've been selling used cars here all the time?"
“Yes,” Li Long nodded and said, “I’ve been selling them for several years now. I’m just making a little money from my work. The cars are brought over from Kazakhstan. If any bosses want them, I sell them and make a profit in the process.”
He thought this man surnamed Deng was there to buy a car, but to be honest, he didn't seem like it, because Deng's clothes and appearance didn't seem like those of a wealthy person who needed to buy a car.
When he came in, Li Long glanced at him and noticed that this guy surnamed Deng had a greasy stain on his trouser leg. Li Long's senses were quite sharp, and he could smell that the greasy stain was machine oil, so he seemed to be someone who tinkered with machines.
"Hey Mr. Li, I have a car here, are you interested?" Mr. Deng asked, his eyes shining. "It's a used car, a friend gave it to me as payment for a debt he owed me. To be honest, someone like me can't afford a car, so I'm thinking of selling it to recoup my investment."
Li Long immediately became interested. He had always been the one selling cars for others or others selling cars for him; this was the first time he had done it (privately). He was interested in doing this business. If he could buy a car cheaply, making a profit from the price difference wouldn't be a problem.
So Li Long asked, "What kind of car is it? How many years old is it? How many kilometers has it run? Has it undergone major repairs?"
His question caught Mr. Deng off guard. After a moment's hesitation, Mr. Deng mumbled, "It's a Mercedes. I've had it for several years. The fuel gauge shows over 20,000 kilometers. The person who gave me the car to settle the debt didn't specify. Has it undergone major repairs? I don't think so..."
Upon hearing this, Li Long immediately became suspicious. If it were truly a vehicle used to settle debts, it was impossible for someone to drive it back without understanding the situation, because this person was usually careless. However, looking at his shifty eyes, this person didn't seem like it.
"Where's the car? Can I take a look?" Li Long asked. "We need to see the car to estimate its value."
“The car is parked outside,” the man surnamed Deng said, standing up. “Yes, yes, let’s take a look. We can talk about it later.”
Li Long was still a little puzzled. He really didn't hear the car drive into the yard. Could it be that the car was in such good condition and the engine was so quiet that even he didn't hear it?
When they reached the front yard of the purchasing station, Li Long looked around but didn't see any new Mercedes-Benzes. The man surnamed Deng pointed outside and said that the car was parked on the side of the road outside.
Li Long suddenly realized, "I knew it! My experience couldn't be so bad that I didn't even hear the car drive into the yard."
As the two walked out of the courtyard, they saw a Mercedes-Benz parked on the east side of the road, about ten meters from the gate.
Li Long saw the man surnamed Deng glance westward, and he shrank back. He followed the man's gaze and saw that the police station was over there.
The two people quickly approached the Mercedes-Benz. There was still someone sitting in the driver's seat, and the engine was still running, making a low sputtering sound.
Upon seeing Li Long and the man surnamed Deng approach, the man turned his head and looked at them warily without saying a word.
"Xiao Lei, get out of the car and give up the driver's seat so Boss Li can check the car's condition and give it a price estimate," said the man surnamed Deng as he walked to the car window to the person in the driver's seat.
The man got out of the car without saying a word. Long noticed that compared to the man surnamed Deng, this man was a bit taller and stronger.
Of course, if it really came down to a fight, he could take care of both of them; that's just an estimate.
Li Long walked around the car once, then felt it looked familiar. He opened the door, turned off the engine, pressed the ignition button, and then opened the hood. Upon closer inspection, he discovered that the number matched one he remembered.
This looks like a car I sold myself!
Without making a fuss, he quietly checked all parts of the engine, then opened the car door, got in, and was about to start the engine when he discovered that there was indeed a problem with the car.
Someone had tampered with the area under the steering wheel; the wiring was still visible. Then, out of habit, I glanced at the left-hand window, and sure enough, the window wasn't moving smoothly.
It's confirmed, this thing was stolen.
I don't know where those two thieves got the key. I wonder if the original owner left the spare key in the car and it was found during the search.
After starting the car, Li Long listened to the engine and found nothing wrong.
He slowly began to recall the details of the car. It was sold to a boss in Beiting City through Chen Yan in June. Although it was an ordinary Mercedes-Benz, the brand name still gave it a certain prestige, and it sold for 450,000 yuan.
These two are really something, managing to steal such an expensive car.
Li Long turned off the engine, got out of the car, and patted the car door, saying, "The car is in good condition, and all the paperwork is there, right? If the paperwork is complete, I can give you 300,000 yuan for this car." "300,000 yuan?" The man surnamed Deng and the man named Xiao Lei exchanged glances, and Li Long could see the look of surprise on their faces.
“Yes, it is a Mercedes-Benz after all, and the condition of the car is not bad. If the paperwork is complete, I can buy it for 300,000 yuan,” Li Long said. “To be honest, after I buy this car, I will take it back and fix it up, and I can sell it for about 350,000 yuan. But I have to pay taxes, so I won’t make much profit.”
"Well, Mr. Li, the person who gave me the car didn't give me the paperwork." The man surnamed Deng rubbed his hands together and said with a smile, "Look, without the paperwork, you can just give us two 250,000 yuan. The paperwork is just a piece of paper, and I'm sure you can make it up with your abilities, Mr. Li."
Upon hearing this, Li Long immediately shook his head and said, "No, no, no, I can't complete the paperwork. Without the paperwork, I can't sell this car. To be honest, I'm different from you. My shop is right here, and when I sell something, people will ask me where it came from. Although I know your car was obtained as payment for a debt, if I try to sell it to someone else, they won't believe me."
"Two hundred thousand, two hundred thousand should be enough, right?" the man surnamed Deng said to Li Long. "I'm sure there are some people who don't care about the paperwork when they buy a car from you, Mr. Li. After all, this car is cheap, and it's a Mercedes."
Xiao Lei, who wasn't good with words, nodded vigorously.
Li Long hesitated for a moment, then shook his head and said, "Forget it, you guys should look for someone else. I can't take the risk. Or you can ask the person who took over your car. If he can get the paperwork, I'll give you the price I quoted, not a penny less."
The two men were a little frustrated, looking at each other, but ultimately they still couldn't produce the necessary paperwork.
Li Long, also looking disappointed, walked back to the purchasing station. Once inside, he quickly picked up the phone and dialed a number.
The phone rang, and Li Long immediately said, "Old Guo, how about I give you a big reward?"
Guo Tiebing was looking at documents in his office when he heard Li Long's words and asked with some doubt, "What great achievement?"
“Two thieves just stole a Mercedes and tried to sell it to me. I looked around and realized it was the same car I sold to a boss in Beiting City. I told them it didn’t have the proper paperwork and I couldn’t take it. These two are driving it now and should have just started heading east from here. If you drive off now, you should still be able to catch up.”
“A car? That’s quite an achievement!” Guo Tiebing said. “Then we can definitely catch up with him; he can’t get far.”
"A Mercedes, worth at least 400,000!" Li Long emphasized. "The case value is considerable!"
"Hey, thanks then. Okay, I'm not talking to you anymore. I'm going to chase after him now!" Guo Tiebing's tone suddenly became much more urgent.
"Take it easy, don't expose me," Li Long said. "I'm afraid they'll come after me when they get out."
"Don't worry, I'll keep an eye on them. Once I find their hideout, I'll make the arrest. With the car you provided to our police station, I'm sure I can catch them," Guo Tiebing said confidently.
After hanging up, Li Long thought for a moment and then called Chen Yan again.
After ringing a few times, Chen Yan answered the phone, and Li Long noticed that the other end of the line was a bit noisy.
"Hello, who is this?" Chen Yan's voice was a little hoarse, whether from drinking or some other reason was unclear.
"I am Li Long." Li Long only guessed for a moment before getting to the point, "Do you remember when you brought a boss from Beiting City to my place in the middle of the year to buy a Mercedes-Benz?"
"I remember you, Mr. Lin, you're in the agricultural supplies business." Chen Yan thought for a moment and said, "What's wrong? Did something happen?"
"His Mercedes must have been stolen. Someone drove it to my place today to sell it, but I didn't buy it."
"Really? Why didn't you leave that car behind? You have so many people with you, that thief shouldn't be able to beat you, right?" Chen Yan said immediately.
“Who knows if they’re working as a gang? I’m worried about retaliation,” Li Long said honestly. “But I’ve told the police station chief that they’re already keeping an eye on things, so the car won’t be stolen. You’d better call that Mr. Lin and ask what’s going on.”
"Okay, okay, I'll ask now. Wait for my call."
After the other end of the phone hung up, Li Long breathed a sigh of relief.
Actually, Li Long was quite confident that he could take down both Deng and Xiao Lei just now.
But as he told Chen Yan, who knows if the other party is a gang? If they are a gang, the group that didn't show up might know that these two people came to his place to sell cars, and if something happens, their target will definitely be him.
It's easy to dodge a spear in the open, but hard to guard against an arrow in the dark. The fire at Pang Donglai served as a warning to Li Long.
So he outwardly let the two thieves go, but in reality, he didn't even leave the house before making a phone call to Guo Tiebing.
Given Guo Tiebing's political acumen, he surely knows how to extricate Li Long from this situation.
About half an hour later, Chen Yan called back, sounding very excited: "Hey! Li Long, you're really something! That Boss Lin still doesn't know his Mercedes is stolen. He owns two courtyards and an apartment in the city."
Parking is inconvenient in the apartment building, so he parked his car in the yard. It's cold this winter, and he hasn't gone out for the past couple of days. If you hadn't called, he would have thought his car was still parked in the yard. He said thank you so much, and he was planning to come over today.
Li Long hurriedly said, "Don't let him come over yet. Although I've already reported this to the police station, and there's a good chance the car can be recovered, the police station hasn't given me any news yet. Tell that Mr. Lin to wait."
"That's what I told him too," Chen Yan said with a smile. "This car isn't cheap. Even though Mr. Lin is rich, he's still heartbroken and anxious to lose a Mercedes worth hundreds of thousands of yuan."
"Alright, try to calm him down. Tell him not to worry, and I'll call you when I have any news," Li Long said. "Why is it so noisy on your end?"
"I've got nothing much to do in the dead of winter, so I'm getting together with some friends to sing karaoke at home," Chen Yan said with a smile. "Are you coming? If you do, I'll get you some drinks and introduce you to a few pretty girls."
"Come on, I don't understand this stuff you city folks do," Li Long said. "We country bumpkins can't do this. We're tone-deaf and can't sing. In the past, we only made a fool of ourselves."
“Who says you can’t sing? We’ve never heard you sing that song before when we came to buy cars from you several times. It’s really nice,” Chen Yan said. “Do you only sing it for your wife at home? We never get a chance to enjoy it.”
This woman is old, and she really has no limits when it comes to joking. Li Long mumbled a couple of things and then hung up the phone.
After hanging up the phone, Chen Yan muttered, "What a coward!"
After making the call, Li Long returned to the courtyard. There were tire tracks at the exit of the police station, but there was no movement there now.
The police station didn't call until evening, and Li Long didn't ask, believing that Guo Tiebing had his own way of dealing with it.
The next morning, Guo Tiebing called Li Long and explained the situation.
"Li Long, we really owe you a lot this time. We've solved a major case."
Upon hearing Guo Tiebing mention a major case, Li Long immediately realized what was going on and asked, "Did these people steal more than one car?"
"You guessed right. They're a small gang that's been committing crimes in Wucheng and Beiting City since winter started. Including this Mercedes, they've already stolen four cars. The first three were two Santanas and one Xiali, which have all been sold."
This Mercedes was so expensive that it was hard to find a buyer, so they came here to try and sell it. They never expected to target you, and now they've been caught.
"You didn't implicate me, did you?" Li Long asked.
"Don't worry, do you need to doubt my abilities? I followed them around the county twice in my car, and then they found a hotel to stay in. They probably plan to go to Shicheng tomorrow to continue selling cars."
So I led a team to conduct a surprise inspection that night and caught them right inside the hotel. My pretext was to check for outsiders, and they were discovered incidentally.
"I got lucky with you. While I was at the hotel, I even investigated a guy from out of town with a criminal record. I handed that case over to the deputy director."
"It's good that they didn't take me out," Li Long said, relieved. "I've already contacted the car owner. I'll notify him to come and pick up the car after you close this case."
“Because it involves cross-regional processing, the case is quite large, but it’s good that the car owner is identified. He can come over tomorrow, complete the formalities, and take the car back,” Guo Tiebing said. “We have already registered the car here, and some procedures can be simplified appropriately.”
As soon as he said that, Li Long understood.
Guo Tiebing had to hurry up and coordinate the cross-regional case handling, and also had to report to the county bureau, so he hung up the phone.
Li Long quickly called Chen Yan and told her to have Mr. Lin come to the town police station tomorrow to pick up the car, making sure he brought all the necessary paperwork.
Chen Yan had been waiting for news. When Li Long called, she immediately said no problem, no problem, Boss Lin was getting impatient.
Li Long also instructed Chen Yan to tell Boss Lin that this matter should not be publicized, and at least not to say that he was the one who played a role. After all, Li Long didn't want people to know that he was the one who caused the trouble.
The saying "the older you get in the world, the more timid you become" is no exaggeration. Back when he was single, Li Long was fearless and daring when encountering robbers or criminals in the mountains, and he wasn't afraid of their retaliation.
But now he has a family, businesses, and isn't alone anymore. He's not afraid of himself; what he's afraid of is those desperados retaliating against those around him—that's something he has to consider.
Chen Yan immediately agreed, saying she would tell Boss Lin about it. Boss Lin was definitely afraid of being retaliated against by those people, so he would know what to do.
After hanging up the phone, Li Long went over the matter again and felt that there were no problems.
He only told Guo Tiebing and Chen Yan about the whole thing; no one else knew anything about it, including Sun Jiaqiang, who was receiving the young man surnamed Deng, who didn't know the other party was a car thief.
So there shouldn't be any problems.
The next morning, Chen Yan drove Mr. Chen to the purchasing station. Mr. Lin unloaded large and small bags from the car and followed Li Long into the meeting room.
Both sides tacitly agreed not to discuss the matter further; Mr. Lin simply expressed his gratitude.
Li Long called the police station again. No one was in Guo Tiebing's office, so Li Long called the duty room. After he gave his name, the officer on duty knew what Li Long wanted to do and told him to have the car owner come over.
Li Long took the two men to the police station, where they saw the Mercedes-Benz in the courtyard. Boss Lin seemed quite excited upon seeing the car, looking it over from all angles. Li Long then asked the question he had been asking.
As he guessed, Mr. Lin had left the spare key in the car.
Li Long thought to himself, "He can do something like this, no wonder his car got stolen."
The officer on duty told Li Long that Director Guo had gone to the bureau to report on his work and had instructed that the car owner could pick up the car after completing the formalities.
Mr. Lin brought all the documents from when he bought the car. After the duty officer carefully checked them, he had Mr. Lin sign them and then handed over the keys.
Boss Lin wanted to express his gratitude to Li Long and invited him to dinner, but Li Long reiterated that this matter should be kept low-key, as neither of them were working alone, and it was best not to publicize such things.
Boss Lin also knew the implications and said that he should let Li Long know when he went to Beiting in the future, so that he could do his best to be a good host.
After Boss Lin and Chen Yan left, Li Long felt that this matter was quite interesting.
The car was sold from my hands, but almost ended up back in my hands after going around in circles.
That is, I have a good memory and reacted immediately, although there is also a certain amount of coincidence involved.
That afternoon, Guo Tiebing called Li Long again, saying that the entire gang involved in the case had been arrested. Because the value of the stolen car was quite large and the impact was quite serious, it caused panic in a certain area—Mr. Lin was the slowest to react among the car owners whose cars were stolen; the others had actually reported the thefts, but the thieves had not been found. In Wucheng and Beiting districts, car owners were truly living in fear.
Therefore, these people may need to be dealt with more severely. As for the specific sentence, it depends on the court's arrangements.
Guo Tiebing said he had also reported the role Li Long played in this matter to the bureau, and the bureau's intention was to ask Li Long to appear at the commendation meeting.
Li Long hurriedly refused.
Just kidding. I was planning to keep a low profile anyway. If I show up, I'll become a target.
These people are at most guilty of theft, and at most they'll get a ten-year sentence. Who knows what will happen to them after they get out? It's better not to take the risk.
Guo Tiebing knew Li Long's personality, so after Li Long said that, he smiled and said that he had actually rejected Li Long's offer at the bureau. Rather than giving him a public commendation, he suggested giving him something tangible. So this time, he approved a reward of 1,000 yuan for the tip.
Li Long said with a smile, "You guys are quite generous."
Guo Tiebing also spoke frankly: "The money actually came from Wucheng. After the case came out, they started mobilizing the masses to collect clues and said they would give rewards. Yours is the top prize."
Li Long laughed. No matter what, even if it was a gift from someone else, at least the one thousand yuan was real money, so he accepted it without hesitation.
Finally, the local news reported that a major theft case had been cracked recently. During a routine inspection, the police discovered suspicious individuals and, following the clues, apprehended a large-scale cross-regional theft gang, seizing a Mercedes-Benz.
That's fine. Li Long smiled upon seeing this; at least he was perfectly excluded from the news reports. (End of Chapter)